Automatic straining device.



No. 737,752. PATENTBD. SEPT. 1, 1903. M. I. LOWRY. AUTOMATIC STRAININGDEVICE.

APPLICATION TILED MAR. 21 1903.

N0 MODEL.

7 m W m W Patented September 1, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

MARY I. LOWRY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

AUTOMATIC STRAINING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,752, datedSeptember 1, 1903.

Application filed March 2, 1903.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARY I. LOWRY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana,have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic StrainingDevices, of which the following is a specification.

Myinven tion relates to certain new and useful improvements in culinaryarticles; and it consists in an automatic means for expressing andseparating the juice from the cooked pulp of fruit or from cooked fruitand other allied purposes, as will be hereinafter more particularly setforth, and pointed out in the claims.

The object of this invention is, first, to provide a means whereto thestraining sack or bag may be removably secured and wherefrom saidstraining-sack may be suspended and by which means the mouth or open topend of said straining-sack is held open to readily receive the preparedingredients or cooked materials to be strained; second, to provide ameans whereby a continuous and uniform pressure is applied to thecontents of said sack to express the juice from the contents thereof andto separate said juice from said ingredients or pulp and to strain theformer from the latter.

I attain these objects by means of the device illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which similar numerals of reference designatelike parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of my invention of a pulp or otherfruit strainer and showing the straining-sack suspended from itssupporting means and the gravity straining-ring applied to saidstraining-sack. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a sidedetail view of the compressing or gravity ring and showing the hingedside thereof. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 5 is a side viewof said ring, showing the lapping and locking joint of the same. Fig. 6is another plan view of said ring, showing the same opened ready toreceive the tucked-in throat portion of the straining sack or bag, Fig.7 is a detail of the clamping means for supporting the suspension-rodsof the straining-sack and showing the same attached to a table or benchin a position inverted from that shown Serial No. 145,872. (No model.)

in Fig. 1, and Fig. 8 is a detail broken sectional View of theclamping-plate of the clam ping and supporting device.

The sack or receptacle into which the materials or cooked ingredientsare placed is composed of a suitable woven fabric, the texture of whichis of the proper coarseness and mesh to suit the material or pulp to bestrained, and said sack is provided with two opposing top sides or flaps2, which are each provided at their top marginal ends with the hems 3,which are of sufficient depth or width to form the extended loops 4,which latter are adapted to receive the two opposing supportingrods 5,from which said straining-sack 1 is suspended when the latter is in use.

The supporting or suspension rods 5 are preferably held and secured inhorizontal position and in parallel relation, and said rods are situatedat a suitable distance apart to secure a proper spread or separation ofsaid laps 2, and thereby insure and maintain the top open portion ofsaid straining-sack open ready to receive the prepared or cookedmaterial or pulp.

The supporting or suspension rods 5 are secured at their ends only to asuitable clamping means or screw-clamp to be secured or clamped to atable, bench, or other piece of furniture, and any suitable form ofsecuringclamp may be constructed, such as that illustrated in thedrawings, and which clamp is composed of the jaws 6 and 7, formedintogral with the throat-piece 8.

Integral on the jaw 6 are formed the arms 9, which extend from each sideof said jaw 6, and on the ends of said arms are formed the bosses 10,which are drilled to receive the ends of said suspension or supportingrods 5 and wherein the latter are firmly secured in any suitable mannerand by any suitable securing means. A boss 12 is formed integral on theend of the jaw 7, and the same is threaded to receive the thumbbinding-screw 13, and the end of the said screw 13 has its to the leaf17 of a bench or table all that is necessary to be done is to apply saidsupporting or clamping means to a table-leaf17 so that the jaw 6 willbear on the top surface of said leaf, as shown in Fig. 1, and willproject sufficiently far over theedge of saiddeaf or said leaf willextend to the end of the gap formed between the jaws 6 and 7 to contactwith the throat-piece 8, which position of said clamping means securesthe stability of said supporting or clamping means, and after so placingsaid clamping or supporting means the said thumb-screw 13 is turned tocause the pivotal clam ping-plate 16 to firmly bind or bear against theunder side of said leaf 17 to securely retain said supporting orclamping means in position. The said clamping means may be also secnredto the leaf 17 of a table or bench with its thumb-screw situated abovethe table, as illustrated in Fig. 7, which position is preferable inmost cases, and particularly insuch cases as where a reinforcing braceor batten 18 is secured to the under side of the leaf of the table andsituated near the edge thereof, so that said batten may be utilized as ameans against which I the central portion or foot 19 of said clamping orsupporting means may abut to rein-v force and insure a more secure andstable support.

The main feature of my invention I will now proceed to describe, and thesame consists in a compressing means or gravity-ring by means of whichthe material contained in the straining-sack is automaticallycompressed. The compressing or gravity ring is preferably of an oblongform having rounded ends or corners, or it may be elliptical in form,and massive in construction relatively to its size and must be of asufficient weight to compress the contents of the strainingsack, whichoperation will be hereinafter described, and said compressing-ringis'composed of the opposing sections, parts, or halves 20 and 21, whichare hinged the one to the other by the lap-hinges 22, which are held inclose contact by means of the hinge bindingscrew 23 and its thumb-nut24, and said laps 22 are constructed each equal to one-half of thethickness of the section of said compressing or gravity ring to secure auniform thickness of the latter. The opposite lapping ends 25 and 26 ofsaid sections (see particularly Fig. 4) are also each one-half thethickness of the section of said ring and are thus constructed for thesame reason as in the case of the clamping or hinge joint, and the innerbearing-face of one of the said laps,as 25,is provided with alocking-lip 27, which extends across the face of said lap in a directiontransverse to the longer axis of said compressing or gravity ring, andsaid lip 27 is adapted to engage or fit into an opposing similarlyformedgroove or recess 28, formed in the bearing-face of the lap 26, so thatwhen the lap 26. is placed over the lap 25 the lockinglip 27 will enterand engage the notch 28 to lockthe sections of the said rings together,and when said binding thumb-nut 24 is tightly screwed on the hingebinding-screw 23 to cause the laps 25 and 26 to bind or to 'be tightlyclamped together the opposing sections, constituting the saidcompressing or gravity ring, are firmly locked together.

The reduced pivotal portion 14 of the binding-screw 13 is provided witha locking-groove 29, and a hole is drilled in the side of the boss 15 ofthe clamping-plate 16, into which 7 is driven the retaining-pin 30,which latter is engaged by the said groove 29 to retain said binding orclamping plate in said pivotal end of said screw 13.

The operation of my device I will now proceed to describe. I firstsecure the supporting or clamping means of the suspending-rods 5 to theleaf 17 of a bench or table, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 or as shownin Fig. 7. I next apply the looped ends 4 of the laps 2 to the ends ofthe said rods 5 and push said loops over on the suspension-rods 5 tillthe straining-sack assumes a position and form similar to that shown indotted lines in Figs. v

1 and 2, and the laps 2 being separated and held apart by thesuspension-rods 5, as shown particularly in Fig. 2, and the top of saidstraining-sack is maintained open ready for the entrance of the materialor ingredients to be compressed or filtered. The straining-sack beingcharged with the ingredients,material, or pulp to be compressed, asshown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2, the hinged sections of thecompressing or gravity ring are opened, as shown particularly in Fig.,6, and the said ring is applied to said straining-sack at or near theopen mouth thereof, as shown in Fig. 1, in which the said throat of saidsack 1 is gathered in folds and tucked in between said ring-sections 20and 21 of said compressing or gravity ring, after which said sectionsare closed to surround the tucked portion of said strainingsack, and thebinding-screw nut 24 is screwed on its binding-screw 23 to firmly bindand to lock said opposing ring-sections 20 and 21 of said ring together.The said compressing or gravity ring is now permitted to descend by itsown gravity to compress or separate the juice from the materialcontained in said straining-sack, and said gravity-ring is permitted tothus remain until practically all the juice has been expressed.

Having thus fully described this my invention, what I desire to cover byLetters Patent of the United States therefor is-- 1. In an automaticstraining device, the combination with a sack-suspending means and astraining-sack, of a compressing or gravity ring surrounding thetucked-in portion of the neck of said straining-sack and situatedintermediate the mouth and the lower portion of the sack.

2. In an automatic straining device, the combination with asack-suspending means and a straining-sack, of a compressing-ringcomposed of two opposing sections connected together.

3. In an automatic straining device, the combination with asack-suspending means and a straining-sack, of a compressing ,or gravityring composed of two opposing interlocking sections adapted to inclosethe neck of said straining-sack.

4. In an automatic straining device, the combination with asack-suspending means and a straining or filtering sack or screen, of acompressing or gravity ring, said ring divided into opposed hingedinterlocking sections and means for locking said sections in theirclosed positions.

5. In an automatic straining device, the

combination with a suspended straining-sack or filter, of a compressingor gravity ring, said ring divided into opposed hinged interlockingsections, the ends of which sections are halved to lap, the bearing-faceof one of which is provided with a locking-lip and that of the oppositesection with an opposing recess or depression and means for securelylooking said sections to form a closed ring.

6. The combination with a straining-sack having its top open, andprovided with two opposing flaps or top sides, suspension-loopson thetop edges of said flaps and a gravity- 0 ring, of a pair ofhorizontally-extending parallel suspension-rods and suitablesuspension-rod-supporting means.

7. The combination with a straining-sack having its top open andprovided with two opposing flaps or top sides, suspension-loops on thetop edges of said flaps and a gravityring, of a pair ofhorizontally-extending parallel suspension-rods, a supporting-clamp andarms on said clamp Wheieto said rods are

